Talia Photography: Sam and Emily's Rainbow Wedding

I first met Sam and Emily when we were homeless together for 4 days. As ridiculous as that sounds, it's true! We were part of an outreach week that The Masters College participates in every fall, and our particular group of students was working with a church in the Pico Union district of Los Angeles. As part of the week all 12 or so of us were allowed only 3 items each that we brought with us other than what we were wearing, had a card with points (between each group of 4) that we had to manage if we wanted to eat, and slept in a parking lot. We also worked with underprivileged kids and my group of 4 went to Skid Row a couple of the days and walked around trying to build relationships with some people.

There were some days that were tougher than others and that's where the friendships really grew. Sam and I became friends a few days in, and we hung out some when we got back to school, and Emily was usually not far behind when Sam was around. They met each other when Emily was a freshman and Sam came for a semester of a 2 semester Bible program. They kept in touch for 4 years when he moved back to Alaska, and he came back and did his second semester when i was a freshman and Emily was a senior. After Christmas break when i came back to go to Israel, Emily and I went on a hike and she told me that she and Sam were dating. I was really excited, and over the years since then they've come up and stayed with my family a few times, and we've kept in touch, and when they got engaged Emily let me know that she wanted me to shoot their wedding and I was so happy to do it!

Yay for two of my favorite people!

(Fun fact, Sam has a sister named Emily and Emily's brother is named Sam)

(I was talking with these three, and one of the little girls turns to the ring bearer and says "Sloan, you're handsome." at which point I looked at him and said "Sloan, are you handsome?" and he looks at me and says "chyeah!")

(These clouds started rolling in during the ceremony, and everyone was praying the rain would hold off until we were done and it did! The first drops started falling as they walked back up)